2026's biggest video game movie is breaking box office records despite abysmal Rotten Tomatoes score
We're jumping down the warp pipe once again, and although some argue the curse of video game movies is still alive and well, we continue to be surprised by box office behemoths. Just when we think we've escaped the clutches of Uwe Boll's many bad video game adaptations, something like 2024's Borderlands or this year's Return to Silent Hill comes along to surprise us with another clanger. Then you've got something like Emma Tammi's Five Nights at Freddy's 2, which boasts just a 16% cirtic score but made a jaw-dropping $239.6 million on a budget of no more than $51 million. Even the Sonic the Hedgehog movies aren't exactly Oscar-worthy outings, but continue to rake in the money at Paramount.
It seems that gaming fans just can't get enough of these movies, and isn't that the point? You only have to look at how Five Nights at Freddy's 2 has a 83% audience score to see there is a big gap between what the so-called pros are saying and the general public.
It's the same for Illumination’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, serving as a much-hyped follow-up to 2023's record-breaking The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
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We already saw this when The Minecraft Movie was dubbed 2025's 'worst' film, but made a not-so-small fortune at the box office.
As reported by Deadline, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has secured an impressive $34 million opening on April 1, and is celebrating another big win for Nintendo's portly plumber. This means the Chris Pratt-led sequel has earned the best opening day of 2026 and beats the recent release of Project Hail Mary's $33.1 million opening. More than this, it also toppled its predecessor by leapfrogging The Super Mario Bros. Movie's $31.7 million opening three years ago.
Early projections suggest The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will land the biggest five-day domestic opening since Moana 2, the biggest three-day opening since Wicked: For Good, and join the echelons of Shrek, Toy Story, and Minions as the only animated franchises to claim two movies that have opened to more than $100 million for three days at the domestic box office.
But what are the reviews saying? Just like there was a massive gap between critics and audiences when it came to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, history is repeating itself. Compared to the paltry 42% critic score, it's current Rotten Tomatoes rating from audiences is a beefy 91%.
When it comes to what various outlets are saying, it's not a pretty picture. Perhaps the most scathing review comes from The Guardian, with Peter Bradshaw awarding it an abysmal one star and calling it a "bland, simplistic template."
In Brawshaw's takedown, he grumbled: "It’s now commonplace to compare programmatic stuff like this to AI, but this is almost a second evolutionary step downwards; it looks as if humans, using AI, have tried to copy something that was originally AI generated."
This isn't an uncommon complaint, as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation notes that Illumination's style of animation has become more jarring since similar AI-generated styles have become commonplace.
Chances are that if you didn't like the first movie, you probably won't like this one either. Buckle up, though, because it looks like the Mario Cinematic Universe is set to expand. Charlie Day has previously expressed his interest in heading up a Luigi's Mansion movie, and in the aftermath of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie's blockbuster success, Jack Black has already said he hopes to keep playing Bowser for 'several more'. Love it or loathe it, it seems gamers can't wait to get back behind the wheel of their Mario karts.